​The best free anti-spyware and anti-malware software 2016

Defeat online irritants and net nasties with these fantastic freebies.

​The best anti-spyware and anti-malwareUsing an internet-connected PC without anti-spyware and anti-malware protection is rather like walking through the bad bit of town covered in bling, waving big wads of notes around and shouting "I am very bad at fighting!" Luckily you don't need to have big wads of notes to ensure that you don't get ripped off through your router or mugged via modem: as we'll discover in our feature, there are plenty of seriously good PC protection apps that you can get for absolutely nothing.

​1. BitDefender Antivirus Free Edition

​BitDefender provides a simple, hassle-free way to keep your PC safe from malware

Discreet protection from online security threats, BitDefender is the best anti-malware around

BitDefender Antivirus Free Edition is the strong, silent type. This anti-spyware and anti-malware tool doesn't even ask questions when you install it. What it does instead is use a range of tactics to identify bad things. It has B-Have, which looks for apps behaving badly; link scanning to identify cons; proactive malware and spyware scanning that can detect threats nobody has encountered before; and boot scanning every time you start your PC.

Ad-free, nag-free and hassle-free, it's a great product that runs quickly and silently while you get on with something more interesting.

​2. Panda Free Antivirus

Cloud-based protection from malware and spyware that takes the pressure off your PC's processor

We're big fans of Panda's security products, and Panda Free Antivirus is smarter than ever before. It's cloud-based, with all the heavy lifting happening on Panda's servers - so the load on your PC is lessened considerably.

As ever there are paid anti-spyware and anti-malware products that offer more features - Wi-Fi scanning, password management, encryption, parental controls and so on - but Panda offers excellent real-time protection and is ridiculously simple to use.​If your PC is a little underpowered, Panda could be the anti-spyware and anti-malware tool for you.

​3. AVG AntiVirus Free

TECHNOLOGY

The advancement of technology generally evokes a range of emotions in people from all walks of life. Some view technology as a great evil that slowly diminishes our humanity, while others view it as a way to bring the world closer together and to help solve some of our greatest challenges. Regardless of your view, almost everyone has a favorite quote or two about the impact that technology has on our lives. These are my 20 favorites.

1) Technology is anything that wasn’t around when you were born. – Alan Kay (Computer Scientist)

3) All of the biggest technological inventions created by man – the airplane, the automobile, the computer – says little about his intelligence, but speaks volumes about his laziness. – Mark Kennedy (Author)

4) Just because something doesn’t do what you planned it to do doesn’t mean it’s useless. – Thomas Edison (Inventor)

12) The great myth of our times is that technology is communication. – Libby Larsen (Composer)

13) You cannot endow even the best machine with initiative; the jolliest steamroller will not plant flowers. – Walter Lippmann (Author)

14) We are stuck with technology when what we really want is just stuff that works. – Douglas Adams (Author)

15) Technology made large populations possible; large populations now make technology indispensable. – Joseph Krutch (Writer)

16) This is the whole point of technology. It creates an appetite for immortality on the one hand. It threatens universal extinction on the other. Technology is lust removed from nature. – Don DeLillo (Author)

17) The real danger is not that computers will begin to think like men, but that men will begin to think like computers. – Sydney Harris (Journalist)

18) If we continue to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant may prove to be our executioner. – Omar Bradley (General, US Army)

19) The art challenges the technology, and the technology inspires the art. – John Lasseter (Director)